FULFILLING A GOAL

When I was very young, well not that young! I had a dream of writing for a living.

A goal is a dream with a deadline. Zig Zaglar

My parents value education and so my dad would buy us books to read every week. I loved reading and I summarized all the books I read, I am sure my literature Teacher must have wondered why I kept bringing summaries to her for review.

Anyway by 1990-91 I had started writing just because I wanted to and I started with poetry, some of which I have posted on my blog or as facebook note. Then I started writing short stories (of the likes I read), then to articles (some for the school press club) and others for fun. I still have some old articles too. With time I migrated into serious writing- business ideas (all of which I still have and is still relevant) drafting storyline for plays/movies and actually completing two whole movie script. I even had a journal for some years, I call them the most trying times of my life.

Thank God I still have most of my writings!!

At this time it was still a dream I was working on. So I went to the university and majored in zoology. I was an average student because I spent more time working on my writing skills (and improving it), reading and working than I did on studies. After university I was afloat, with no work experience in my field of study and no willingness to get any it was a matter of “what do I do for a living and where do I fit in?”

All my dreams centered around writing for a living so I set a goal. Get work that allows you to do just that.

Why? I know that even if it is just one person that read what I have written, that someone would take away something from reading what I have written and that way I would have been able to touch one life. For me touching just one life is a blessing!
So I took a job as a writer/editor of an export newsletter (lousy pay but great experience) and boy did I love the work!

"We cannot become what we need to be by remaining what we are." Max De Pree

Then my dreams came back to me (in full force) and I knew it was time for it to come to life. But I also knew I needed some additional skills, so I took some short courses and went for seminars and workshop. AND I KEPT READINGALL THE TIME! I spent hours and days reading and researching.

What goals do you want to meet or what dreams do you want to fulfill? What are the dreams that you have had and put in the cooler for years? Search them out and give them life!

Today I write for a living, not only that, people actually read what I write and I get feedback which I make use of to improve myself and my writing. I write for businesses mostly but I also find time to continue writing for fun and I enjoy doing both.

My best time for writing is the dead of night when everyone is asleep and minding their business of the day. Just like I am writing this at 3.30am on a Monday morning.
I had a dream while I was young; I set a goal of writing for a living after school and another for having my own business before 2010. I am here to stay and it can only get better.

……………….AND THEY FLEW!!!

“Come to the edge, he said. They said, we are afraid. Come to the edge, he said. They came. He pushed them………………and they flew” Guillaume Appillonaire.


It’s 2.24am on a cold Monday morning, I am awake on my bed, reading and planning for the week’s activities and taking some time to work. As I read, I come across the quote above and so my pen began to move!!

The first time I read that quote I laughed, and then I blinked and came back to it. I had to read it again and again. In that one quote so much comes to mind about the journey of man through life and how we out of fear limit ourselves and do not reach our potentials.

The edge here is a point where two things or stages in life meet. Our past and our future or maybe it’s our limitations and our success. Whichever two stage it is; it requires a bold step, eyes wide open, determination to survive, and a mind to rise above fear. This will enable you to move from one stage to the other.

Who was speaking and to whom? We do not know and I don’t think we need an answer to that.

Reading that quote what comes to your own mind?

The first response to the beckoning was fear, the fear of taking a risk and a reluctance to leave the comfort zone in which we find ourselves. Basically, I think the willingness to even “come” must be commended but flying?! THAT IS GREAT! I bet they did not have an inkling that they could fly and if they did they did not know how.

My guess is the guy who asked them to come to the edge saw the potential and that the only thing keeping them from reaching it was “them”. They had the talent, skills, knowledge and all that was needed to reach that potential. All they needed to do was to take that bold step of faith and LET GO!! Scary thought ehn?!

Anyway, they did take the step and in their determination to survive, they flew. I can honestly tell you that when they were pushed, they panicked and kept falling. When they saw the ground coming at them, the reflex reaction for survival kicked in.
Their wings developed a wing of its own and it connected to their brain and every part of their body. THEY FLEW!! Why? Because they wanted to live! They loved life more than their fears and unconsciously let go of fear for life.

A lot of us are limited by ourselves and nothing more. Most of us need to come to edge and be pushed. Well a percentage of those who want to only by ourselves c we will find a way to survive. We will realize we have wings and remember HOW to use them.

We will discover that only by ourselves can we move from mediocrity to relevance, from poverty to wealth, from developing to developed and from past to future. Where ever or at whatever stage in our lives or businesses we are now, we must heed the beckoning to come to the edge and be prepared to fly when we are pushed.

DO NOT PANICK, IT WOULD MAKE YOUR FALL GO FASTER!!

Clear your head, take action and the rest will be as they say, “HISTORY”

WHAT IS A CHURCH??

It pains me most times when some people discriminate about churches or when they ask “which church do you attend?” and when you tell them they look at you like “you sure you serving God?”


For so many a church is just a house and so its easy to discriminate when I tell you I live in a face-me-i-slap-you kind of house, or maybe I say I live under the bridge. It might be impossible for you to come visit me there. However from my little understanding I believe a church is a place where you go to worship God.

Don’t get me wrong the word tells us we are the TEMPLE of God. I meant a CHURCH is a place of dwelling that we go to visit God. You been God’s temple means you have him with you all the time, that’s how it should be with someone that you love truly and sincerely. If you love a person irrespective of distance he would always be with you.
But a church? No that is a dwelling, the dwelling of that person you love. If you love God then you would not mind what the building looks like, what the name of the building or the street is, or what the other visitors or guests where to come see that same God, YOUR FRIEND!

According to the upbringing that I had, I was made to believe that when you go to church you have not gone to see someone or person, you have gone to see God. I go to church to visit with God, for me he is a friend, father, mother, husband, in-law and much more. Remember that when you go to visit a person you are not bothered about his or her house, the distance or what it looks like, you are more concerned about the person.

In church I dance like my friends would do in a club with abandon (just like David did) because a lot of times I feel a release of joy in my dance and I see God smile at me when I dance.

CHURCH IS WHERE YOU WORSHIP!!!

But I don’t just dance, for each visit God asks me what I want to be entertained with; like a friend would do for you when you pay him a visit. He asks what you would like to drink or eat. Same way God asks me what I would eat and drink and I reply by making my request then comes the time spent talking and listening. I talk to him and he listens then he talks. It’s a wonderful relationship for me going to church.

THAT IS GOING TO CHURCH!!

So I ask you today WHAT IS A CHURCH?? When you say “I AM GOING TO CHURCH” what exactly do you mean? Or what deductions do you want people to make from your statement? How is it that for many going to church has become a thing of criticism and a place to be discriminated? Why are you bothered about the name of the place I visit or what the house of my friend looks like? Why does it concern you the kind of cloths I were to visit my friend? Or the gifts I take to him?

WHY DO YOU GO TO CHURCH? AND WHEN YOU DO WHAT WHO DO YOU GO TO SEE?

It’s simple! I should be able to enter any house where I find my friend residing.

Because even a church is not God’s home. His home is more fantastic than what we can imagine so why bother with the house he resides to meet with us? He has given us this great opportunity to have a place where we can come visit him whenever we like or want to. But instead we look at the trappings and location, SUCH A PITY!

Because I love God I am not bothered with the name of the house, the colour, the structure, the butler or major domo, even the other workers in that house. All I know is I have gone to visit God in his house and I will enjoy my visit. For me it’s a party, yes! Let’s see church like a never ending party for God’s children. You know what you do at parties? You enjoy yourselves and you also remember to take a gift for the celebrant. AFTERALL WE ARE CELEBRATING JESUS!! At parties you dance, you get to know the others at the party, congratulate the celebrant and wish him well and be entertained.

THAT FOR ME IS A CHURCH!!
ENJOY YOUR CHURCH AND I WILL ENJOY MINE!!

OUR DESTINY, YOUR DESTINY, MY DESTINY

Destiny?! A great word with the simplest of meaning, the meaning is so near you that we tend to fail to see it.

Destiny is like cake in the oven, beautiful and delicious, filling and satisfying. However, without the right heat the cake would not turn out as we expect. So is our destiny!

Destiny is like a well-laid out business plan, one that investors read and get moved to risk their money. However, without the right mindset, skills and motivation/innovation to implement and make it a success, the business plan is a waste of effort.

Destiny is like beautiful lyric to a song; it makes good sense and touches the soul. But without the voice and personality to carry it the beauty of the song is lost and has no value.

Destiny is like a well-written constitution that covers all the areas of importance to a nation and takes it people and their will into consideration for which it is written. But when the people have refused to read and understand it, or have no respect for it then it is of no value.

Destiny is a properly drawn out plan of a house, drawn with specification for a structural masterpiece. However, without workers and builders to translate the drawn out plan into a dream house, the house cannot turn out as it is on the plan or as the architect had drawn it.

Or maybe it’s like a building in which the contractor has decided to cut corners? The house would invariably crumble and maybe kill or injure people living in it.

Destiny is like a bundle of cloth that has been laid aside for a Princes, she decides the design and style that the cloth should be cut into. This she wears and must be proud of. THE CLOTH IS HER’S.

Destiny is like a beautiful clock bought and set in a place of prominence to mark time and sound the alarm but the owner forgot to set it to the right time. The clock would mark the time wrongly and wake its owner up at the wrong time.

Destiny is like a road to a magnificent house that has been left to crumble and overgrown by the owners, it becomes difficult every time they embark on a trip out and back to their magnificent home.

Destiny is like the ugly duckling, an eagle living with ducks. His life would be limited by the surrounding and environment he finds himself and it won’t be able to fly until it is among its own.

Destiny is like a talent that each and every one has, a talent like the proverbial guy in the bible who took his talent of gold and hid it in the ground, it would not multiply and yield fruit.

Destiny is like a beautiful lady who decides to not take care of herself because people have said she is beautiful believing that without care her beauty would continue to remain, and then wakes up one day to look in the mirror to see a fat and ugly woman instead of the beauty.

Therefore let us all remember that even though we have all come to this world with our own destinies, destiny is what we make of it. We have a choice to make good of it or make it bad. The life of man is like an open book and we have been given the pen to write the story of our lives. What you write in that book is dependent on you alone and no one else. NOT EVEN GOD CAN HELP YOU WRITE YOUR OWN STORY. Remember it is your destiny, your life and your story to tell.

Make your destiny your own today and take the choices that would take you on a journey of fun, success and the envy of everyone around you!